Highland School District says ?no? to bullies

    Riverside and Ainsworth Elementary students participated in a fun and educational program at Riverside Elementary Friday morning. Guest speaker Craig Olson led the students in skits and songs about building character, saying no to drugs and walking away from bullies. Olson is a member of the Des Moines-based group ?Rock In Prevention,? which performs this sort of presentation all over the country.

    The Highland High School chapter of JEL (Just Eliminate Lies) guided the students through the skits and gave them good advice about how to handle a bully. The two dozen or so high-schoolers went to the front of gymnasium and took turns sharing their thoughts on bullying. Some of them said that, if they were confronted by a bully, they would walk away. Others said they would inform a teacher, and a few more said they would try to resolve their differences with the bully.

    Olson began his portion of the program by playing rifts on his guitar. He told the audience of fourth- and fifth-graders that he was going to sing a song, and that they were going to sing and dance to it, too. He taught the kids the words to ?R.O.C.K. in the USA.? The kids jumped, sang and even played their own guitar of sorts ? an ?air guitar.?

    Olson then sang a song written specifically for Rock In Prevention called ?Don?t You Be Hating.? The song is about how it is not acceptable to put others down to feel good. Olson sang the lyrics ?Only lifting you up, never tearing you down,? after which the kids joined in by singing the bridge of ?la-la-la-la.?

    The kids then divided into groups of 10 with a couple of high school mentors in each group. The mentors taught the students lines to a skit they would later perform in front of everyone.

Oftentimes, the high -schoolers played the role of the mean or disrespectful students, and the elementary students urged them to clean up their act. In one skit, a student receives harassing messages over the Internet, which is known as ?cyber-bullying.? The grade-schoolers took turns talking into the microphone, explaining why cyber-bullying is just as bad as any other kind of bullying.

    The elementary students also worked on their ?refusal skills,? which refers to their refusal of drugs and alcohol. A high-schooler told a group of kids that smoking is cool. The kids informed her that she is sadly mistaken. One young man told her that he is ?keeping his breath fresh for the ladies.? In another sketch, a high-schooler wanted to go to a beer party. The elementary students informed her that she is not old enough to do that. One grade-schooler said his parents would ground him for months if he did that.

For more, see our March 4 print edition.